1 Samuel 2:30 Why the LORD God of Israel said, I said indeed that your house, and the house of your father, should walk before me for ever… Our chickens generally come home to roost. Our thoughts of other men become other men's thoughts of us. According as we measure out to our fellows, so do they measure back into our bosoms, for good or for evil. So especially, in reference to the Lord himself, the God of justice sooner or later causes a man to reap his own sowing, and gather his own scattering. So does life repeat itself; so does the seed develop the flower, and the flower again produce the seed. It is an endless chain; for the thing that has been is the thing which shall be. A man may live to see a grim procession of all his old sins marching past him, robed in the sackcloth and ashes wherein justice dooms them to be arrayed. So is it also with our joys. God gives us joy after the similitude of our service. If you wish to see this exemplified in Scripture, how many instances rise before your Enoch walks with God because God pleases him, and then we find that he pleases God. Noah obediently rests the issues of his life upon the truth of God, and God gives him rest. Abraham was famous for trusting God, and it is wonderful how God trusted him. Very striking as an instance of the retaliation of providence is the case of Adonibezek's. Samuel, when he smote Agag, told him that, as his sword had made women childless, so should the sword of the Lord that day make his mother childless by slaying him. Most memorable of all is the instance of Haman and his gallows, fifty cubits high. See how he swings thereon. He built the gibbet for Mordecai. Malice uses a sort of providential boomerang. The man flings it with all his force at the foe, and it comes back to him; not into his hand that he may use it again, but across his brow to smite him even to the dust. Take heed what ye put into the measure that ye mete out to others, and especially to God; for "with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again." "Them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." I. THE DUTY INCUMBENT UPON US ALL, but especially upon God's people, OF HONOURING THE LORD. As we are God's creatures we are bound to honour God. Just notice how we ought to honour Him, and consider wherein this duty lies. 1. We should honour Him by confessing his deity: I mean the deity of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. "The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God; and yet there are not three Gods but one God." 2. Let us further honour God by acknowledging His rule. 3. Let us honour the holiness of God and the justice of God and the mercy of God by repentance whenever we feel that we have done wrong. 4. I would press upon you to honour God by acknowledging the wisdom of His teaching, and by a teachableness which accepts His doctrine. 5. We honour God when we believe Holy Scripture to be inspired — infallibly inspired; and, taking it as such, say, "It is not mine to question it, or to argue against it, but simply to accept it." 6. Further, we honour God's love by a daily trust in him. 7. We also honour God, when we confess His goodness by patiently enduring His will, and especially by rejoicing in it. II. THE INFLUENCE UPON OUR DAILY LIFE OF THIS HABIT OF HONOURING GOD. A man who honours God does this practically; it is no form or farce with him, but a deep practical reality. 1. He does it often by consulting with God. 2. We honour God in our daily life when we confess him. 3. Sometimes you can honour Christ by Some distinct service that you can do for him, or by some special obedience to his will. I have always admired the example of the pious Jew who was told that a certain city on the Continent would excellently suit his business. "But," he asked, "is there a synagogue there?" and when they said that there was no synagogue he preferred to stay in another place, that he might worship God, though he would do less business. I do not know that this is often the case among Jews any more than it is among Gentiles; and, I am sorry to say that I know many Gentiles to whom God's worship is no consideration whatever — they would go to the bottomless pit if they could make large profits. 4. Then you can honour God with your substance when He gives it to you. 5. In a word, the man that really honours God seeks to praise Him. III. THE REWARD OF ALL THIS. "Them that honour me I will honour." Is not this a grand reward? It is not, "They that honour me shall be honoured," but, "Them that honour me I will honour." Does God honour men? He promises to do so. Compared with the honour which the Lord is able to give, there is no honour which is worth naming in the same day. When God honours a man the glory is glory indeed. One of the French kings gave to a conquering general some £500 a year, or thereabouts, for a wonderful deed of prowess, but the soldier told the king that he would have preferred the gold cross. I do not think I should have had such preference for a bauble; but honour is a precious commodity. To get honour from God is very different from getting it from a king. It was said of Alexander that, of two nobles who had served him well, be gave to one ten thousand talents, and to the other a kiss; and he that had the money envied him who received the kiss. One kiss from the mouth of God would outweigh kingdoms. Honour from God — favour from God — this is a high reward, which cannot be weighed against ten thousand worlds, and all the glory thereof. "Them that honour me I will honour." The man who honours God shall be honoured in his own heart by peace of conscience — honoured in his own spirit by the conviction that it must be wisdom to be right and true and honest, and that it can never be under any circumstances right to do wrong, or wise to break a divine command. Such a man honouring his God among his brethren shall be honoured of God in the church. And in the world it shall be the same. I do not believe that a man truly serves God without in the long run winning the esteem of his fellow citizens. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. |
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